Small room ideas

At home with Emma Bridgewater

In our January issue, we go inside the home of British ceramic designer and businesswoman Emma Bridgewater. Bridgewater set up her pottery business in 1985 in Stoke-on-Trent, when many other manufacturers in the city were either closing down or going overseas. Her pottery is instantly recognizable, decorated with polka dots, stars, hearts or elegant lettering using 19th century sponge-printing techniques. Here's a taster. To read the rest of the piece in full pick up or download our latest issue.

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Emma Bridgewater's eponymous business began in 1985 when, unable to find any mugs she liked enough to give her mother, she decided to make her own. Her mother's kitchen was the inspiration for a revival of the English spongeware tradition. Today her products are sold in the likes of John Lewis and Fortnum & Mason, as well as two Emma Bridgewater shops in London, and hundreds of shops worldwide.

Andrew Montgomery

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For some years, Emma and her husband Matthew Rice lived in London, but they now have moved to Oxfordshire. In 2011, they found a rundown farmhouse, Ham Court, on the edge of Bampton village and surrounded by 30 acres of land. It provided them with an irresistible opportunity to breathe romance back into a series of neglected and derelict buildings.

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When, in 1984, Emma first came to Stoke, she found a blighted cityscape. The closure of coal mines and steel mills was followed by a reduction in the number of pottery workers from 60,000 to 6,000. 'No one thought it a great idea when I decided to buy a factory. But I thought, as we design and do our own marketing, why not manufacture as well?'

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The converted Victorian factory now houses around 270 workers, many of whom are descendants of a previous generation of pottery workers. The earthenware is still made with minimum mechanisation and decorated skilfully by hand in long workrooms.